Alain Modoux
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Alain Modoux (Switzerland) holds a master’s degree in political science. He worked 24 years for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), first as a field delegate in South East Asia, Western Africa and the Middle East, then at the headquarters in Geneva, as Director of the Communication Department and member of the ICRC Directorate. In July 1989, he joined the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) where he held several senior positions in the communication field. He was successively Director of the Office of Public information, Director of the Communication Division in charge of all questions relating to the free flow of information, communication research and communication development, Assistant Director-General for Freedom of Expression, Democracy and Peace. He completed his international civil servant career at UNESCO as Assistant Director-General in charge of the Communication and Information sector. Best known within the media industry for his commitment to press freedom, Alain Modoux is, inter alia, the architect of the UNESCO proposal which led to the decision by the General Assembly of the United Nations to proclaim 3 May "World Press Freedom Day". As an international expert in ICT and media issues, he represented UNESCO on the “Digital Opportunity Taskforce” (DOT Force) set up by the G-8 to address the challenges of the Information Society. He was also closely associated with the preparation of the World Summit on the Information Society (Geneva, December 2003, and Tunis, November 2005) as adviser to UNESCO and the Swiss federal administration. Alain Modoux is at present a senior adviser to UNESCO on communication and information, Board member of the ICT4Peace Foundation, President of ORBICOM, the International Network of UNESCO Chairs in Communication whose secretariat is based at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM), and Chairman of the Geneva-based InfoSud news agency (Geneva). He is also involved in the development and promotion of a quality-management system set up by the Media & Society Foundation to enhance professional standards and practices within the print and electronic media industry through a voluntary certification process based on ISO 9001. |
